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Another school shooting and our hearts clench. The image of another mother clinging to a photo of the child instantly taken from her while doing nothing more than attending school rips the hearts and strikes fear into every other parent.

While the debate will continue on gun control, that’s not the discussion I want to have because I think there is something much more pressing that every mother needs to do. Prepare your kids. In every part of their lives, it is our job to prepare them. The thought of having this be a conversation required to raise children today seems almost outrageous. But we have to face our current reality, so it is one we unquestionably need to have.

In the words of Samuel Johnson, remarriage is, “The triumph of hope over experience.” Hope should remain that a healthy second marriage can be found. To do that, here are a few tips to ponder before taking that next, fateful step.

I need to tell myself to get “back in the swing of things” about every two and a half months. I begin by being on target for what I need to do, goals created, focus established, all tools gathered, and I head off. Then, for some reason, I find myself off the rails… looking around, trying to figure out what I need to do, and how I got off track. When I get to this point, I know it’s time to gather the same “Here’s what I need to do” tasks that—when I do them (truth is, I don’t always)—work every time.

I sit this morning, alone, watching as the sun crests the peak of my home. It is quiet, with a waterfall in the background and nature sounds playing their melody… I ponder the gravity of this season. It is once again Easter.

I am reminded of the week’s beginning. The triumphal entry of Jesus, in humility seated upon a donkey, as he arrives at the city of Jerusalem. Greeted as the conqueror; the expectations of those who lined the streets were high as they placed palm fronds before him, expressing their delight at His arrival.

“This isn’t what we fought so hard for when we finally broke the glass ceiling, is it?” I heard this question posed while watching television. In this scene, a successful female lawyer and her law firm peer were confounded by the decision of a younger, promising female lawyer who just announced her intention to resign from her career in order to become a wife and mother. This was television’s attempt to be profound, reflecting what they considered a cultural phenomenon.